Ex Parte Pete: Mistrial as to the Full Trial Proceeding or Punishment Phase Only
Ex Parte Andrew Pete NOS. PD-0771-16, PD-0772-16 & PD-0773-16 In the Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas Procedural History: This case was brought to the Court of Criminal Appeals by way of the appeal of a district court’s decision … Continued
Morgan v. State of Texas: Greater Right of Possession in a Burglary Prosecution
Morgan V. State of Texas NO. PD-0758-15 In the Court of Criminal Appeals Procedural History: This case went to the Court of Criminal Appeals on PDR by the State. Appellant was convicted for burglary of a habitation. The Second Court … Continued
Ex Parte Cox; WR-42,794-05; Plea Bargaining Multiple Counts and IAC
Plea Bargaining on Multiple Counts: In a 2 count plea bargain, where the conviction in Count II was overturned as unenforceable and on account of ineffective assistance of counsel, and the consideration exchanged was a waiver to a jury trial in … Continued
Griffin v. State, NO. AP-76,834, Legal Sufficiency
Legal Sufficiency of the Evidence & Capital Murder: A felony that is committed as an afterthought and unrelated to the murder is not sufficient to prove capital murder. In this case, the CCA overturned a conviction for capital murder after finding that … Continued
IAC, Plea Bargains, and Recusal: Israel Ytuarte Rodriguez v. State of Texas; PD-0278-14
Ineffective Assistance of Counsel & Trial Court Recusal: The defendant in this case sought to have a 10 year TDCJ-ID plea offer reinstated and accepted by the trial court. Defendant’s trial counsel failed properly advise him of the possible consequences … Continued
Confrontation and Forensic Analysis: Jovany Paredes v. State; NO. PD-1043-14
Confrontation and Forensic Analysis: The Court of Criminal Appeals held that a defendant in a criminal case may not have a confrontation right to cross-examine a lab analyst who conducts an analysis to create raw data. The Court noted in … Continued
Oops, That Was a Felony: Ten Crimes You Might Not Have Known Were Felonies
After seven years of school and almost 10 years of practice, I still don’t know all of the criminal laws in the state of Texas. While most of the crimes in the State of Texas of are provided for in the Penal … Continued
Christopher Allen Phillips v. The State of Texas; PD-0789-14: Jailhouse Witness Testimony
Jailhouse-Witness Testimony: The Court of Criminal Appeals gave a broad reading to “a statement against the defendant’s interest” in interpreting Article 38.075(a) to to determine the necessity of a jury charge requiring corroboration of jailhouse-witness testimony. IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF … Continued
USA v. Batamula, No. 12-20630 (Fifth Circuit 2015) – Ineffective Assistance of Counsel / Immigration
Immigration advice to criminal defendants: General admonitions regarding the possible immigration consequences of a conviction do not absolve counsel of their duty to advise a client of certain immigration consequences resulting from the decision to enter a plea or reject a … Continued
Rabb v. State, PD-1643-12
Tampering: To swallow may be to conceal, but it does not necessarily equate to destruction. _____________ IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS OF TEXAS NO. PD-1643-12 RICHARD LEE RABB, Appellant v. THE STATE OF TEXAS ON STATE‘S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW FROM … Continued